Fan Mail From Some Flounder

Folks, just another long night but hey, since the Yankees are actually winning tonight I’ll take some time off and catch up on some mail,

Grunkaz says “Just curious, how’s the relationship with Games Workshop going right now just before release? Do you see any changes a year down the track? I for one am a HUGE GW fan so being able to get the collector’s edition with an awesome looking miniture was great marketing idea. I hope to see more WAR -> GW minis. Keep up the awesome work with WAR (and this blog) and don’t burn yourself out” Couldn’t be better. I love working with GW professionally and on a personal basis, I consider them good fellows and good friends and I don’t throw either term around lightly. As to changes, I hope that the relationship continues to deepen and strengthen because working with and getting to know the guys at GW has been one of the absolute highlights of my professional career.

Brian R says “Firstly, the trend in the MMO playerbase as of late is what I refer to as the ‘WoW test’ where any title slated for release in the MMORPG market is excruciatingly compared to WoW’s current state. My question is this, What is your opinion on the subject. Do you feel that its fair to new titles to be compared to the behemoth that WoW has become in its current form or should new titles be compared more relistically to what WoW at tis initial release state?” It is not only fair but realistic. If you are going wade into shark-infested waters you can’t whine when you get bit. When we created DAoC we knew we would be compared to EQ so we tried to play up our strengths (RvR). Different day, same tune.

Brian R says “How do you feel micro-transaction MMO’s inpact the subscription based MMO model?” Badly in most cases (free-to-do-nothing-fun-games) but in the right hands and the right country, it can be a successful model. As long as the MMORPG is just not a “Quarter Sucking the Life out of its Players” model, some of them will do well I’m sure.

Brian R says “thanks for taking the time to communicate with the community Mark, it really is refreshing to see a development company who’s employee’s deal directly with the players in so many ways. In 20 years of gaming I can’t recall a single company that talks to the players in such a straightfoward down to earth manner as Paul, Josh and youself.” Oh no, not you again! Don’t forget Jeff “the” Hickman and everyone else at Mythic who are creating WAR who make this part of our jobs easier. If we were ducking rotten fruit and lettuce all the time it would be a lot harder for us to talk to the players through our sealed survival suits.

Ccoa says “So, as an aspiring game developer I wanted to ask you what do you think it would take to become a next-gen MMORPG game developer.” If you mean by next-gen MMORPG game developer someone who starts their own company, I would say a ton of money, 2-3 years out of your life, a ton more money, lots and lots of aspirin, another 2 years to correct the errors you made in the beginning and a ton more money. If you meant how do you break into the MMORPG industry, there are lots of ways depending on what you do. Lots of developers at Mythic and other devs have come through our CS program, internships and by continually asking for jobs. The bad thing about MMORPGs is that they take a lot of time and money to make. The nice thing about them is that we are always looking for talented people.

SteveE says “If you’re ever looking for topics, I’d love to hear the thoughts/history/poop on Aliens Online. First MMO I ever played, and still quite a forward-thinking game.” I should do a piece on it and probably will. It was one of my favorite designs of all time and I loved to play that game.

Tom says “I’m sure it’s been asked before, but since we’re on the topic of questions… What class are you going to play MJ? Is there a side you favor, or are both destruction and order your beloved children?” I personally favor destro (Suddenly the Net lit up, Mythic Devs favor Destro, Order become red-haired stepchildren, news at 11!) but I’ll play both I’m sure.

Bael says “I had three questions: given the goals and objectives you had when you first set out to build WAR, how close do you think you’ve come to fulfilling them all? What are the biggest regrets you have about cuts made to the game, and what element are you proudest of?” LOL, WAR will never fulfill my goals and objectives because I’ll never be truly happy with the way it comes out just as DAoC. I’ll always think about what we could have done differently. Biggest regrets about the cuts is the loss of the Choppa and the other cities, I really wanted to see those cities come to life but that’s the nice thing about a MMORPG, time. I’m proudest of the PQ concept. Of all of my design elements for the game, this is the one that is going to have the most effect on MMORPG design going forward.

Teljair says “Hey Mark, nice blog so far! If you would ever consider giving us a bit of your time for an Interview over at http://www.waaaghhammer.com let me know! We would love it!“ Love to.

Scarybooster says “Nice start on a blog Noob. Jk” Why just kidding? When it comes to blogging, I’m a total noob. Now, when it comes to writing or talking to people online, well, I’ve been doing that since the BBS days so I expect I’ll get the hang of this someday.

Myrdo says “On the subject of DAoC… knowing what you know now, what’s one or two of the big things you would change, decision wise, if you could go back? I’ve been a sub since basically release, so I saw the ups and downs… and I’m interested, from the BMOC’s standpoint, what changes you would make with hindsight being 20/20.” The easy answer is ToA but if I could make another change, I would have insisted that we had better metrics and survey tools for Mythic back in the day it would have saved us a lot of grief. Other guys like Dave Rickey also thought we needed them but we always had something else to do that sucked up time. Lesson learned.

Sunny says “Will you be miring yourself further in people’s comments or be keeping this blog more for your personal musings? Cause I loved the post on the success/failure of WAR as it relates to the market and want more, more, more.” Love the name, it was the handle of someone very special. As to what I’m going to do, well, a bit of everything I hope.

Melissa says “Seriously, you guys are the best – thanks for making a girl’s weekend!” OMG, I should frame this. Usually we get the “Thanks for taking my friend/boyfriend/husband out of my life because of the game. Damn you Mythic!!!” I do appreciate the kind words, I hope we make you feel that way for a long, long time.

Seb says “Please never do a ToA like expansion in WAR ! ” I think I’d rather shoot myself in the head than do another ToA.

Matth says “I’d love to hear your thoughts on these MMOs (eg: Darkfall) that are trying to bring the sandbox PVP model back into the genre, and are really trying to take the genre into new directions.” I’d love to see more sandbox PVP MMORPGs out there. I love PvP, RvR, SNL and I hope that developers bring different MMORPGs out into the marketplace, we need it badly.

Don says “And I lied, I really also want to know why you guys decided to go monthly sub instead of free2play+pay2win and what it says about the future of WAR. I also thank God you chose monthly sub ” Free2Player + Pay2Win = DesignToLose in NA I think and Europe as well I hope for MMORPGs.

Capt Caveman says “I loved DAoC and I’m hoping I’ll love WAR. I have my OB key and my bottle of CabSav so I’m a happy bunny. If I win the 92 million in the Euro lottery tonight I might even hire you to make my own mpog.” Well, I didn’t get your offer in the mail so I guess you didn’t win, sorry about that Cap. Well, on the plus side, making MMORPGs are a quick way to make a multimillionaire into a stark raving mad poor man so don’t feel too badly.

James says “I’m just wondering on how you came to this industry ?” In a reed-covered boat floating down the Hudson River in NYC. And if you believe that, well, the oceanfront property is still available! In truth, it all started with a FORTRAN Monrobot, a paper tape roll and a nice hack or two. I think I have my next column…

Well, that may do it for the night. Time to watch “The Shield” and then call it a night. Gad, I’m going to miss that show when it goes off the air.

Mark

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“James says “I’m just wondering on how you came to this industry ?” In a reed-covered boat floating down the Hudson River in NYC. And if you believe that, well, the oceanfront property is still available! In truth, it all started with a FORTRAN Monrobot, a paper tape roll and a nice hack or two. I think I have my next column…”

Thanks for response (to mine as well as everyone elses. How do you fit in the time so close to release!!). I’m really glad you and GW have such a positive working relationship. Obviously future GW lore and products will fuel WAR inspiration but I really hope that some of Mythic’s art and ideas will flow into some GW releases.

>> Free2Player + Pay2Win = DesignToLose in NA I think and
>> Europe as well I hope for MMORPGs.

How do you figure? Runescape. Habbo Hotel. Puzzle Pirates. Club Penguin. Neopets. Guild Wars. These are games with millions of users. They are free to play and pay for extras.

I hate to break it to you, but its the subscription model that is an ancient dinosaur in need of a giant meteor shower.

How does it make sense for everyone to pay $15, but some people get 10 hours of gameplay and other people get 300 hours of gameplay?

The subscription model perpetuates the whole “time sink” concept, because you have to keep people sucked into the subscription in order to keep them paying.

Pay for extras has to make the game fun enough for people to want to play, in order to actually pay.

Subscription models bleed content. What content? Players. When your friend has to quit because he only has a few hours a month to play, a lot of times you end up having to quit too. And then another friend quits because of that, and so on and so on.

Subscription model makes returning to the game much harder. A lot of people get curious about a former game and would love to pop on and see what is up… but they don’t feel like paying $15 first.

The subscription model has been shown to be flawed. Yes, it works right now because nobody has made an EQ/WoW style game without it yet. But when someone does, that’ll be it.

You had a chance to do it with WAR, but didn’t. That’s your choice, but don’t try and perpetuate the canard that free to play is the one doomed to fail. Free to play is growing at a massive rate. Subscriptions are plateaued at best.

I’ve been playing the EU WAR OB (was in Closed Beta so was lucky) and been tinkering with the different careers. Congrats for that, as I can’t really settle on which class to choose as an alt, which is a new thing. Although that leads to my question…or well request. Bring back the Blackguard! 😛
I used to collect Dark Elves miniatures and right now I can’t play the Dark Elves, because I don’t get that Dark Elf feeling tbh…I want my evil Elf in wicked pointy armor =)
Second, do you play any RTS games? If so, any favourites?

2 points.
1) Now that i’m finally in OB I have to say this is the first time in AGES I have played a game and not noticed the time disappear, I need say no more.
2) Your “Order being red-headed step child” quote opens up my question, did you actively promote Destro ahead of Order to combat the imbalance that the ‘bad guys’ have had in both DAoC and WoW?

I ask because watching the trailers and cinematics the Destro guys always seem more prominent, Orcs Launching against the castle, Bosses manifesting dragons etc etc As someone that has always played the ugly side/underdog i’m now getting very worried that Destro will become the inbalanced side.

hey whats up, just dropping you a line to let you know that i enjoy reading your blogs. i also have to admit when i first read your posts on the WAR alliance boards it was strange.

strange because ive never seen a top dev guy communicating openly with the community that will be playing their game. its good to see that happening, it shows you guys give a @#$% about us players. thanks!

Mark, one question/concern – do you work on making better animations – some are great, some are not (especialy marauder is medicore in this department)
I know it isnt super important and you fixed with every patch majority of combat problems, but still..

Rest of the game is really really good – no CTD, balance is ok, WAR has a bright future IMHO.

Been playing DAOC since 03 and now warhammer , and just wanted to give a big thanks for all the years of entertainment you’ve provided me, and the many more ahead with warhammer. You and your team have done a great job with warhammer!

Thanks for your reassuring comments in your previous post concerning Ultima Online. There are alot of us out there still in love with this game and we (for the most part) are very excited that the UO team is housed under Mythic and no longer directly at EA. For me, and a lot of other UO players, we’ve become fairly unsure about the future of our MMO of choice over the past two years. Our game has desperately needed a new client, and a lot of overhauls, but what the UO team produced was not UO. Additionally, communication with the players over the past year and a half has been very poor. We flock to every tidbit of information like sharks nowadays. I’ve already bought the WAR CE, and intend on playing it, but I will never cancel my subscription to UO because it is a much different beast and I have many friends there. I understand WAR is a big endeavor and you must get it out the door first, but when you do, please look at some of the issues that the players address on the UO Stratics forums and UO Forums.

Certain game elements can’t change, I know, but our game needs some shelf time very badly. We need SOME kind of advertising. The players do what they can by word of mouth, but UO is in a bad spot right now compared to earlier years.

Anyway, Mark, I just wanted to convey several issues that the players have had with UO recently. Ultima is one of the founding fathers of this industry and I desperately want to see it given some love by one of the best MMORPG companies on the planet. =)

Hello Mark, I have one question that I was hoping you could please answer. From various sources I have heard that we will be getting high-resolution textures. Can you please confirm or deny this? I’m also wondering about things like bloom and so on.

Have a nice day and keep up the good work!

PS. Would you be willing to trade the oceanfront for a piece of land in warm and sunny Sarek in northern Sweden?

After playing the Elf RvR area all during the Preview Weekend 1/2 and the OB I can tell you even though it’s easy for players to shuttle back and forth (Well sort of easy, most new players won’t have a clue) the fact that the Dark elves have no tank sure makes a difference.
I’ve heard the same from Empire folks but pfft to them, everyone flocks to Nordenwatch anyhow.

And just randomly, does Mythic hate destruction? Our front cannons in Nordenwatch are almost useless with obstructions (Slap the guy/gal that put an NPC in front of the cannon) but the front cannons of order are all nice and clear. Also, you (By you I mean Mythic) do know that Order players can just stand on the ledge above the Destruction camp and pick off players as they like firing the cannons and there’s no way a player can defend himself. Why? Because of course the cannons can’t turn that for! That would be madness!

Lastly, I hope your satisfied… I’m so addicted it’s not funny… ok it is funny but dammit!
For the first time since I played EQ that first time and seeing a world in 3D and getting the “WHOA” effect I’ve gotten that again in WAR.
/hugs his CE Box

“OMG, I should frame this. Usually we get the “Thanks for taking my friend/boyfriend/husband out of my life ….”

A lot of women play mmo’s now thanks to WoW. Heck, even my 64 year old mother plays (though she keeps rerolling pally’s to go annihilate things in Duskwood go figure). Will be getting her WAR for her bday methinks. 🙂

Are all 30 of the servers listed today on the Herald going to go live all at once during headstart? If not, why?

Our guild has about a quarter of members with the CE and the other three quarters with the SE. So with a two day headstart if our CE members pick a server and it fills to capacity are we going to have to force those members to have wasted their two day head start and have them re-roll on a different server since the one they started on is now full because there were only 5 servers open on the 14th instead of the 30 listed for North America?

Why not just open all 30 of your listed servers on the Herald at one time and let people fill them up through CE and SE headstarts and then by the 18th you’ll be full to the brim on those and likely needing more new servers to handle all the people who didn’t pre-order and are waiting to see what their friends say before buying?